Smart cities are emerging with an increasing capability to be instrumented with a diverse range of mobile and fixed sensors, this allows us to create wireless and wired networks to improve the interaction from Vehicle2I (Vehicle to Infrastructure), Vehicle2Vehicle (Vehicle to Vehicle) and H2I (Human to Infrastructure). These technologies enable a richer set of services based on IoT (Internet of Things) by creating ITSs (Intelligent Transport Systems). A standard infrastructure may be used to perform wireless communication from vehicles to a central management base for V2I or V2V applications.
This can be seen as a significant step towards a “Smart World”—an integration of smart environments to better understand our surroundings and to improve our wellbeing.
On the other hand, for automated private parking lots there exists Automated Storage and Retrieval System (AS/RS), and warehouse management systems. These systems increase the efficiency parking task by preventing time spent looking for an empty space. The implementation for those systems, however, requires a high cost infrastructure for the amount of sensors and mechanisms, which are used to verify whether a parking space is available and then to move and park a vehicle via the AS/RS.
The existing car parking systems implemented for ITSs (Intelligent Transportation Systems) in smart cities are not very efficient to the extent that there tend to be communication problems related to the phenomenon observed by the sensor network. Sensor nodes are currently deployed on the ground in the center of a parking spot. As vehicles have to drive over the sensor, it must have a low profile and this result in the antenna being placed only a few centimeters above ground. Such a placement in general reduces the communication range. If a vehicle is parked, a large metal object is placed above the antenna which obstructs communication dramatically and causes an unexpected entry to the system.
Furthermore, in current developments an infrastructure is used to perform communication from cars to a central management base, this results in a high cost associated with installing this technology.
The number of vehicles in cities is increasing. In crowded areas (malls, office buildings, etc) the difficulty to find a parking space is troublesome. Finding an empty space in busy urban areas is sometimes difficult.
In order to find a parking space drivers have to divide their attention, to identify which pedestrians are walking to their car to leave, to identify which vehicles are leaving and which ones have just arrived, and to drive around the parking lot. This makes the searching for parking space stressful, accident prone, and sometimes a frustrating and/or time-consuming process.
Techniques for assisting drivers to find parking spaces more efficiently would be an improvement.